S07.E20: Stamina, Stamina, Stamina

[OnceSane]

Quote

Laurieann Gibson returns, determined to win; with two duets and a group dance, the girls struggle with stamina as well as their new leader's cutthroat attitude; Laurieann loses her patience with the mothers at a competition.

[WildFlower87]

Nia and Holly cannot accept ANY criticism at ALL. Both of them really have an attitude when Nia is corrected on ANYTHING. Suck it up you two! Spare me with this privilege nonsense. Brynn and Kalani are more talented and that's why they get more opportunities. Cased close! 

[tessat]

I do feel Nia has had to fight for most of the opportunities that she's been a pretty level headed kid - but on the other hand Abby dd refer to Brynn as possibly her next Maddie which put extreme pressure on Brynn to perform - and we know how the mom's treated both her and Ashley. As far as I'm concerned - both mom's are wrong - but this is Dance Mom's - everyone thinks their kid is perfect. Kira going off on Camryn - who's mostly been invisible was funny as Kira thinks Kalani is perfect.

I thought Macie was great in the group dance even tho I didn't like it or the dresses - I enjoyed the duets better in the studio than on the stage. I didn't see the fight in either Camryn or Kalani.

That said - Laurieann - has their number - they have forsaken dance for the opportunities and fame - which is fleeting and the moms want it more than the girls.

[OhSnap]

Hmm...I've often thought that both Kendall and Nia were getting really bad guidance from their mothers. Instead of these moms yelling at Abby for correcting their sweet babies (and they did NEED those corrections), they should have told their daughters to concentrate on those areas for improvement. And now, when the girls are literally crying, feeling sorry for themselves, and blaming Abby for years of lackluster performances, I an blaming their mothers. And I think Laurieann might be coming to the same conclusion.

I have been underwhelmed by the choreography, and mostly disappointed with the performances, and I agree with the judging.

[Loves2Dance]

I think LAG is crazier than coco puffs but thank you Jesus for finally calling a spade a spade---these girls believe they are better than they are. In reality, with the exception of maybe the minis, these girls are light years behind their peers in dance. Even Kalani and Brynn who are the most technical of the older girls. 

[Rebecca]

Laurieann was spot on in her speech.

[RedFire2000]

"I think the problem is you think you are better than you are, everyone is acting spoiled and entitled". True words never spoken.

These girls are asleep at the wheel, need to wake up. A bunch of lifeless robots with no vibe.

[tessat]

As for the older kids - the only one I see having dance as a career is Kalani - maybe as a dance instructor - then again - what you want to be as a kid and what you dream to be as a teen much less an 18 yr old are usually so far apart. Because of this show - other doors have opened - I think Nia prefers singing as does Kendall and Mac Z - oh they'll use dancing in their videos - but I don't see a commitment to dance for life. Kendall - will probably go on to be a Ladybird if So Sharp continues. Brynn now has a clothing line. All these outside activities and opportunities have taken not only their time but mindset off dance.

[Cindylou]

The moms always want "opportunities" for their girls, but when they have someone treating them like they would get treated working a job in the industry, they take offense.  LAG has done nothing but show the kids how a professional dancers  life in Hollywood would be, and what would be expected of them.  all I get from her is they HAVE TO WANT IT to make it.  and they are so used to winning and doing the same numbers, they think they already have it........

[hellohoping]

Agree, Laurieann was spot on throughout. And I may get criticism for this but I was especially pleased to see Nia get taken down a peg or two. Her dancing is heavy and lazy almost all of the time. It's about time it got pointed out to her. Of course her and Holly will keep going back to their 'victim' speech, but fact is Nia's has been dancing too long and too often to have the lack of technique that she does. What a terrible waste of two smart people's time. 

And yes, all of the mums and girls think they've made it, when they've not even started yet.

Edited September 7, 2017 by hellohoping

[cali1981]

On 9/6/2017 at 6:05 AM, tessat said:

That said - Laurieann - has their number - they have forsaken dance for the opportunities and fame - which is fleeting and the moms want it more than the girls.

Although Laurieann may be almost as crazy as Abby Lee, she sure did read the ALDC culture (at least on the show) correctly.  The girls and, especially their idiot mothers, have focused way too much on chasing the fame train instead of intense dance training.  There is on thing that LAG said when she first came in that disturbed me.  "Abby Lee makes robots. I make stars" she bellowed.  It would have been better if she said "I make professional dancers who have careers in the business".  Of course the sleazebags at Collins probably would have edited that out since a hard core reality check is something that they are not interested in.  I'm eagerly awaiting to see what Cheryl Burke does with the older girls in the coming weeks.  She's a consummate pro and, hopefully, she can give these girls some candid truth about the life of a dancer.

[Absolom]

I seem to have had a vanishing post.

Ratings:  A pitiful 654K viewers and a .22 rating.

[spanana]

Laurieann may be crazy but she wasn't wrong in anything she said to the girls or mothers.  They do think they are better than they are, the kids and the mothers.  They don't have stamina because they don't really train outside of whatever dance they do for the show and taking some random classes here and there, which in LA I think mostly consists of hip hop classes.  Which I'm not belittling hip hop classes because the girls need those if they want any chance of being working dancers since that is where a lot of the commercial dance opportunities are but still.  The rest of their time is taken up with recording songs, shooting videos, making appearances, walking red carpets, hawking clothing lines, making youtube vids, etc.

Kendall is lazy and most of the mothers have victim complexes where their kids are concerned.

[DaisyFields500]

Laurieann Gibson made me laugh from the beginning to end of this episode.  She made the show entertaining; I liked her.  She focused too much on shaking up the competitive dance world.  I wish she focused more on creating dances that could easily win in the competitive dance world. The mothers were disrespectful to Laurieann like mischievous kids to their teacher in the classroom during the Kendall and Brynn’s dance practice.  The kids’ dancing this season was not as good as it used to be like past seasons.  I felt Laurieann tried to give Nia opportunities.  She put her in a duet with Kalani that I know Abby would have never done.   Ashley and Holly made some good points on privileges after Laurieann took Nia out of the dance. They both got privileges, but they are different.  I don’t enjoy saying it, but Nia danced heavy and clunky during the duet practice and most of the time.  I also don’t think Nia puts much effort to improve her dance skills.  She needed private lessons and a parent that pushed for excellence (dancing).  I thought this group dance was an improvement to the others this season, and even thought it was not spectacular I finally could say I enjoyed their group dance again.  The hip hop dancers winning did look questionable.  Laurieann’s speeches at the end of the show I could tell came from her heart.  The pretending to be great speech was good for the girls to hear.   The fight between Camille and Kira went from zero to one hundred instantly.  Camille was too sensitive about her child messing up, and Kira went for the jugular in a cruel manner. Laurieann’s last speech was heartbreaking and explosive.  It was a great closure to this episode.  I looked at Kalani’s face, and I could tell the speech reached her.   These girls got opportunities from the exposure of this show.  I think some of them need to pursue other interests and avenues to become a superstar.

Edited September 11, 2017 by DaisyFields500

[Fiero425]

It really did look like Abby hyped them up too much! They thought they were better than they actually were and finally got some much needed comeuppance! Nia never got to where she needed to be and should have sat back without giving her pity speech near the end about how much time she put in! "Seniority doesn't get you the job babe! You gotta earn it!" ;-)